CP&DR

Riverside County Integrates Three Planning Efforts: Land Use, Transportation and Habitat Planning are Combined

Feb 1, 2000

Featured Articles, Vol. 15 No. 02 Feb 2000, William Fulton

Faced with the possibility of adding another 1.5 million people during the next 20 years, Riverside County has embarked on an ambitious effort to plan for that growth. The Riverside County Integrated Plan seeks to combine land use, transportation, and habitat planning into one unified blueprint for growth. County officials emphasize that the planning process does not seek to restrict growth. Rather, the goal of the process is to channel and accommodate new growth while meeting federal standards f...

Growth Borders Start Taking Hold In Central Valley: Stanislaus County Voters Could Decide UBG Initiatives This Year

Jan 1, 2000

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 01 Jan 2000

California's Central Valley, the most important part of the state's giant agriculture industry, will have three times as many residents in 2040 as it does now, according to demographers. The conflict between population growth and farming is driving many planning efforts, some of which are including urban growth boundaries as a means of protecting agriculture. The growth-boundary concept is not new in the Central Valley. Tulare County and its largest cities have had urban growth boundaries for 20 year...

Housing Rises On Sacramento's List Of Priorities : Gov. Davis Wins Praise For Choice Of New HCD Director

Jan 1, 2000

Featured Articles, Vol. 15 No. 01 Jan 2000, William Fulton

As a booming economy continues to drive up housing prices, California's top officials are placing a higher priority on housing issues in the year 2000. But with Democrats firmly in charge in Sacramento, the state's efforts appear likely to focus on providing more public assistance for housing, rather than pushing for a dramatic reform on policy issues such as the housing element law. Gov. Gray Davis appears ready to give higher priority to housing issues in his second year in office than he did in his...

Slow-Growth County Takes On Housing Officials : Santa Cruz Supervisors Reject Negotiated Housing Element

Dec 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999, William Fulton

Despite five years of negotiation with state housing officials, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has rejected a proposed housing element that would permit the county to reach its affordable housing goals largely through the unprecedented use of "granny flat" policies. At its core, the dispute between the notoriously slow-growth county and the state is a stark example of two competing philosophies about affordable housing. Within the context of longstanding growth restrictions, count...

Growth-Control Initiatives Receive Mixed Reception In Off-Year Election: Voters Defeat East Bay CAPP, But Development Fight Cont

Dec 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

In an off-year election that surprised many observers, slow-growth advocates lost battles in some surprising places, but they also claimed victories in some pro-growth cities. Most importantly, voters in the East Bay cities of San Ramon, Pleasanton and Livermore rejected the Citizens Alliance for Public Planning initiatives that would have put on future ballots all but the tiniest of developments. And, in the first test of a Ventura County SOAR growth restriction, the electorate approved rezoni...

Water Transfers Remain an Easy Answer in Theory : But Practical Rules Are Muddy

Nov 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

As more large development proposals rely on water transfers to meet expected urban needs, the complexity of such transfers becomes apparent. Water transfers can engender strong opposition, especially from people in the area that would lose the water, and sizeable water transfers continue to hit major snags. At least four giant development projects, several Central Valley cities, and one Southern California water agency intend to siphon water from farmland to new homes and businesses. But all...

Planner Pleads No Contest in Rail-Cycle Case

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Valery Pilmer, a former San Bernardino County land use services director, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of stealing a public document. Under the plea agreement with the county district attorney's office, Pilmer was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and retired from county employment effective October 15. Pilmer was indicted earlier this year on four felony counts relating to hiding, altering or destroying public records and lying about it in a sworn statement. The charges stem f...

Governor Leaves Mark on 1999 Legislative Session : Redlands ‘Doughnut Hole' Bill, Marks-Roos Reform Earn Vetoes

Nov 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999, William Fulton

In his first year as governor, Gray Davis has gained a reputation as a chief executive quick to wield the veto pen — and the field of planning and development legislation proved to be no exception. Even though the Legislature passed only small and incremental bills — opting against sweeping change in any area — Davis vetoed one-third of all planning and development bills that reached his desk. "I think he actually striped the middle pretty well," said Clyde McDonald, Assembly Local Governme...

State Treasurer Wants to Influence Growth Patterms: Policies for Housing Tax Credits, Infrastructure Financing Are Tools

Oct 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999, William Fulton

Four months after making a sweeping proposal to re-orient the state's infrastructure investments around "smart growth" principles, State Treasurer Phil Angelides — a former "New Urbanist" developer -— is moving forward with at least three different proposals to change the selection criteria in state bond and tax credit financing programs. "It's a new way of thinking for the state and the public finance community," Angelides said. "But it's not irresponsible and it is creditworthy." Angelides has al...

Lawmakers Pass Few Significant Land-Ue Bills : Davis Vetoes Attempt to Halt Spread of Big-Box Retailers

Oct 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

Although Democrats took control of state government this year for the first time since the early 1980s, the legislative session did not produce a batch of liberal bills. In fact, with regards to land use, environmental regulation and local government finance, the session may have been most remarkable for what lawmakers did not do. The Legislature approved no major changes to the California Environmental Quality Act. Transportation and affordable housing bonds died. Proposals to reduce the v...